‘The Underlying Chris’ Theater Review: Will Eno Goes Full Hallmark

In his 2014 comedy “The Open House,” Will Eno offered up a real coup de theatre when he had a bickering family slowly replaced on stage by characters interested in buying their house. As one family member after another left the house to go on an errand, the actor playing that role would soon reappear as a potential house buyer, real estate agent or contractor.

Eno’s new play, “The Underlying Chris,” opened Thursday at Second Stage, and the playwright is back in an inventive mode. Chris is a character we follow for 80-plus years, from the crib to his or her grave. Yes, the many actors playing Chris at various stages of life alternate between being male or female; black, white or brown. The character (sometimes named Kit, Krista, Christine, etc.) does not change sexual orientation. Chris is a hard-wired heterosexual, and in one short vignette after another (the play runs 85 minutes), the character undergoes the typical life experiences of physical injuries, parental deaths, marriage, child birth, divorce and decrepitude.

In his 2017 play “Wakey, Wakey,” Eno revealed that it’s the little things that make life endurable. He also explores that Hallmark greeting-card thesis in “The Underlying Chris,” and adds to it with many speeches about the miracle of life. Did you know that the blood vessels in one human body can wrap around the world two and a half times? One of Eno’s characters advises us not to attempt this feat.

Eno’s ability to subvert our expectations through language is on full display in one early scene: It’s a meet-cute at a café where the medical student Chris (Luis Vega) and a young veterinarian (Hannah Cabell, bringing a quirky grace to several characters) keep misinterpreting each other’s remarks until finally they go off on a date. The wordplay continually refreshes a scene we’ve seen in dozens of movies and other plays.

There are glimmers of this wit throughout the play, but the underlying Chris — that emotional and physical core that links this individual to every other human being — keeps getting in the way of any dramatic payoff. Chris is a generic character, one who is everybody and therefore nobody.

All the big moments in Chris’s life happen offstage: the accidents, the deaths, the break-ups, the reconciliations. Eno leaves us instead with the coping and the survival, and after a few scenes, we jump ahead of the story. Unfortunately, we are never surprised.

It’s the core problem with this “La Ronde” format, and Kenny Leon’s direction never solves it. Instead, he emphasizes the rigid structure rather than loosening it up. Arnulfo Maldonado’s set design delivers several distinctive locales, each one divided by a blackout (lighting by Dede Ayite) and/or a lowered curtain. It’s as if Leon and his designers have set up a metronome on stage to give each scene the same rhythm, the same dramatic weight. Playing the older Chris, the actors Denise Burse, Lizbeth MacKay and Charles Turner all manage to bring real gravitas to their respective portrayals.

Life is a miracle. It’s worth living. But sometimes it’s not worth watching.

Broadway's 12 Top-Grossing Non-Musical Plays of All Time, From 'War Horse' to 'Harry Potter' (Photos)

Broadway isn't just for musicals. Here are the all-time top-grossing straight plays on the Great White Way, according to grosses compiled by the Broadway League up to Dec. 30, 2019. (These figures aren't adjusted for inflation, so recent hits at current sky-high ticket prices have a definite advantage.)

12. "700 Sundays" (2004-05; 2013-14)

Total gross: $32,029,177

Billy Crystal's autobiographical one-man show found favor in two separate runs on Broadway nearly a decade apart.

11. "Betrayal" (2019)

Total gross: $32,621,468

Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Cox and Zawe Ashton packed 'em in for the fourth Broadway production of Harold Pinter's time-bending drama.

10. "August: Osage County" (2007-09)

Total gross: $32,835,606

Tracy Letts' Pulitzer-winning drama became a huge hit on stage without any big stars -- and then a 2013 movie starring with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.

9. "Proof" (2000-03)

Total gross: $32,896,994

David Auburn's drama about a woman with a troubled legacy of both mental illness and genius-level math skills earned multiple Tony Awards, including for star Mary-Louise Parker.

8. "The Play That Goes Wrong" (2017-19)

Total gross: $34,341,708

This farce about an amateur theater company's mishap-prone production of a mystery play is another London import that found popularity on this side of the Atlantic.

7. "God of Carnage" (2009-10)

Total gross: $37,345,584

Yasmina Reza's barnstorming dramedy about two dueling couples earned the Tony for Best Drama -- as well as nominations for James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis.

6. "It's Only a Play" (2014-15)

Total gross: $37,500,966

Terrence McNally's backstage comedy was a huge hit thanks to the Broadway reteaming of Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, stars of the Tony-winning musical "The Producers" a decade before.

5. "Angels in America" (2018 revival)

Total gross: $40,937,028

The 2018 revival of Tony Kushner's two-part epic won three Tony Awards, including for co-stars Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.

4. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" (2014-16)

Total gross: $68,321,435

Another London import, Simon Stephens' adaptation of Mark Haddon's YA novel follows an autistic boy on a quest for the killer of his neighbor's dog.

3. "War Horse" (2011-13)

Total gross: $74,975,253

Michael Morpurgo's YA novel about a British boy's search for his horse in World War I inspired both this epic play, complete with life-size puppets, and Steven Spielberg's 2011 film.

2. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (2018 - )

Total gross: $105,773,236* (as of Dec. 30, 2019)

Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of the beloved Harper Lee novel may have been snubbed by Tony nominators for Best Play, but it has been drawing crowds since opening in December 2018.

1. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two" (2018 - )

Total gross: $$163,017,626* (as of Dec. 30, 2019)

The stage sequel to J.K. Rowling's saga about the now-grown boy wizard has extra advantages -- since it's a two-night (and two-ticket) epic that plays in a musical-sized auditorium to diehard Potterheads.

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You don’t need an orchestra — or songs — to draw audiences

Broadway isn't just for musicals. Here are the all-time top-grossing straight plays on the Great White Way, according to grosses compiled by the Broadway League up to Dec. 30, 2019. (These figures aren't adjusted for inflation, so recent hits at current sky-high ticket prices have a definite advantage.)

HOLLYBLOGS

Robert Hofler, TheWrap's lead theater critic, has worked as an editor at Life, Us Weekly and Variety. His books include "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson," "Party Animals," and "Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange, How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos." His latest book, "Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne," is now in paperback.